The present invention generally relates to orthotic devices and, in particular, an orthotic device that is designed to span the elbow and that are secured to an arm both above and below the elbow.
Following a neurological injury, a patient often experiences upper limb involvement (hemiparesis). Often times the elbow presents with hypertonia or hypotonia. Hypertonia is when the elbow tends to, stay in the flexed position, and hypotonia is when the elbow is week and hangs down at the side. Hypotonia is often also referred to as flaccid.
Orthotic devices that address the hemiparetic elbow conventionally include an upper component that attaches to the arm above the elbow and a lower component that attaches to the arm below the elbow. Furthermore, the upper component and the lower component are hinged together in pivotable disposition in the area of the elbow, and a biasing member typically biases the upper and lower components toward a particular orientation relative to one another and thereby urges the arm into flexion or extension, as the case may be. An example of such an orthotic device 100 is shown in FIGS. 1-3. In particular, FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of a conventional elbow orthotic 100; FIG. 2 is a partial perspective view of the orthotic 100 in a flexed position; and FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of the orthotic 100 in a flexed position. As will be appreciated from review of FIGS. 1-3, upper and lower arm components 102,104 of the orthotic 100 have overlapping portions that are hinged together at an axis 106.
A drawback to such conventional orthotic devices is that they tend to inhibit or otherwise interfere with movement of the forearm between pronation and supination. In this respect, it is important to note that the elbow flexes and extends; however, below the elbow the forearm pronates and supinates, which is to say that the forearm turns the hand palm down and palm up, respectively. This is anatomically done by the physical make up of two bones of the forearm, i.e., the Radius and the Ulna. Another drawback with conventional elbow orthotic devices is that they do not incorporate the hand functionally for grasp and release activities.
An orthotic device in accordance with one or more preferred embodiments of the present invention addresses such drawback.